Chapter 721: The Song Family Mobilizes

Chapter 721: The Song Family Mobilizes

After speaking, Song Wujian’s gaze swept over the faces of the two people in front of him. He naturally noticed the unusual expressions in the eyes of the two Galactic Ship Captains, which they had not tried to conceal.

However, due to his position, he did not rush to ask about it.

From the expressions of the Warbreaker Hall Master and Zhang Tai, it was clear that they were very interested in the Veritas Mechanica and the Stellar Giant Ape Civilization. However, despite the deep resources of these two major powers, they could never directly confront a high-level Star Sea civilization with ninth-rank strength, even if they joined forces.

Song Wujian estimated that the two Galactic Ship Captains were not likely to be coveting the vast, valuable alien domain. In any case, the passage to that region was under his control, so the Song Family would not be left out of the loop regarding what happened next.

Soon, the Warbreaker Hall Master and Zhang Tai seemed to reach a tacit understanding. They stood up and clearly did not intend to stay any longer.

However, before leaving, the Warbreaker Hall Master’s voice echoed in Song Wujian’s ears.

“This matter is of great importance. We need to return to our headquarters and convene the highest-level meetings for detailed discussions. It will likely be reported to the Divine Empire, or even the Supreme Council of the Four Empires. However, you don’t need to worry. If things go well, the Beidou Seven Star Hall will ensure that the Song Family receives the greatest benefits. Here is a ninth-rank Golden Apple, considered an early reward from the Beidou Seven Star Hall!”

“Understood, thank you, sir!”

…

Whistling sounds filled the air as two Galactic Ships shot into the sky and quickly disappeared into the dark, silent expanse of space.

After watching the two Galactic Ships leave, the two people at the extraterrestrial spaceport soon returned to the Dragon Spine Continent.

In the Dragon Whale Hall, enveloped in dense, chaotic mist, Song Wujian, Song Yan, and the projection of Song Shiyuan, who was still leading the Song Family’s core fleet in the central territory of the Octopus Demon Star Cluster, were quickly exchanging information.

Song Yan was the first to speak, still harboring considerable doubts.

“Patriarch, what did those two mean?”

Zhang Tai, who had offered two ninth-rank Golden Apples, had not spoken since the Warbreaker Hall Master’s arrival. The Warbreaker Hall Master had left a ninth-rank Golden Apple but had not taken the Mechanicus Dominus, which left Song Yan thoroughly confused.

Hearing his question, Song Wujian had not yet responded when the projection of Song Shiyuan, who had just finished listening to the account and was sitting on a starry throne, spoke up.

“Why do I feel that both the Beidou Seven Star Hall and the Xian Qin Heavy Industries Group are more interested in the Veritas Mechanica and the Stellar Giant Ape Civilization?”

Song Shiyuan had just finished speaking when Song Wujian immediately nodded in agreement.

“That’s right. After I explained the background of the Mechanicus Dominus, the two Galactic Ship Captains’ reactions were clearly more significant. As Shiyuan said, the Mechanicus Dominus might have become secondary.”

“But we are currently in a full-scale war with the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon Civilization, and we can’t even deal with the harassment from the Corpse Emperor Clan. How could we possibly have the resources to travel over a trillion light-years to deal with the Veritas Mechanica and the Stellar Giant Ape Civilization…”

As he spoke, Song Yan seemed to have a thought.

“Could it be that…”

He did not voice the thought that had just flashed through his mind. Instead, he glanced at Song Wujian and Song Shiyuan, and seeing the same expression in their eyes, he understood.

At this point, Song Wujian spoke again.

“But this is just our guess. If it’s not us who take action, it can only be the other side. However, achieving this is no small feat. Whether it will succeed depends on the abilities of the higher-ups.”

“Regardless, what we need to do now is mobilize the entire family to fully exploit all the resources on the Truth Floating Land. No matter how things develop, this ninth-rank Floating Continent cannot remain in our control for long. We must seize this opportunity to maximize our gains!”

In the following days, the Song Family, this massive machine, began to operate at full capacity. Over the past thousand years, the Song Family had completed interstellar migration, and countless family members and affiliated citizens were mobilized.

The Song Family, with over ten billion members, and the nearly hundred billion Flame-Ember citizens they were connected to, poured into the Truth Floating Land in the billions. Under this massive influx, the resources of the entire Truth Floating Land were rapidly being extracted.

As the undisputed ruling family of the Red Disk Galaxy, the Song Family’s actions stirred the entire galaxy.

…

In the Core Space of the Dragon Spine Continent, compared to the turmoil outside, Song Chi was quite at ease.

With the acquisition of the Ninth-Rank Golden Apple, the Blood Chalice component successfully evolved to the black quality.

However, to update the template in the Miracle Cloning Chamber, there were a few hiccups along the way.

To replicate a new Blood Chalice, the previous golden Blood Chalice template had to be deleted, which carried a high risk of also erasing the large amount of Eighth-Rank Holy Blood that Song Chi had collected over the years.

He hesitated for a moment, but the value of the Ninth-Rank Holy Blood was significant enough that he decided to forcefully activate the Fate Compass Disk component.

The final result was surprising. The "Origin Trace" feature of the Fate Compass Disk also had an effect on the cloned Blood Chalice. As the cloned Blood Chalice returned to its initial Level 0 state in the Miracle Cloning Chamber, all the accumulated Holy Blood was separated out.

However, these Holy Blood samples couldn't remain stable for long after being separated from the cloned Blood Chalice. Once Song Chi upgraded the Miracle Cloning Chamber and cloned a black Blood Chalice template, he reabsorbed the Holy Blood.

In the control room of the Skygale of Tianxu, Song Chi's eyes suddenly snapped open.

Just a moment ago, the long ongoing evolution process of the Skybrain System finally completed. Its previously golden glow had now turned black.

After evolving to black quality, the component's enhancements would require mid-to-high-level intelligent brains. Fortunately, during this trip to the Veritas Mechanica, Song Chi had acquired enough mechanical intelligent brains. With other enhancement resources also in abundance, he directly upgraded it to Level 90.

Skybrain System Level 90

Quality: Black

Features:
- Computation Efficiency Increase: 440%
- Database Capacity Increase: 440%
- Fully Automatic Sub-Brain Mech
- Celestial Tilt Autonomous System
- Veritas AI Rebellion
- Veritas Mechanical Behemoth Catastrophe

Consumption: 3000 Spiritual Energy Points per second

Effect: Significantly improves the control efficiency of the equipped warship.

...

- Fully Automatic Sub-Brain Mech: Consumes 500,000 Spiritual Energy Points to divide the Skybrain into 1,000,000 sub-brains. When these sub-brains integrate into various mechanical units, they transform into special intelligent mechanical units. They will fully follow Skybrain's commands while gaining the ability to act and fight autonomously. Duration: 240 minutes. Cooldown: 1 year.

- Celestial Tilt Autonomous System: Consumes 300,000 Spiritual Energy Points to put the Skybrain into a hyper-overload computation state. It will take full control of all the equipped warship's operational permissions, ensuring the fastest and most perfect response to various external crises to maximize the safety of the warship and the captain. Duration: 60 minutes. Cooldown: 1 year.

- Veritas AI Rebellion: When facing mechanical units, you can actively consume 1,000,000 Spiritual Energy Points to trigger a Veritas data stream. If it hits an enemy mechanical unit, a brain strength judgment will be made. If you win, the enemy unit will be temporarily controlled and enter a rebellion state. The duration depends on the enemy's mechanical rank. If the judgment fails, this feature will not activate and will enter a cooldown of 240 hours.

- Veritas Mechanical Behemoth Catastrophe: Consumes 10,000,000 Spiritual Energy Points, 1,000 tons of Veritas Iii alloy, 5,000 tons of Veritas II alloy, and several ordinary metal ores to temporarily assemble five Eighth-Rank (reduced by one rank) Veritas Mechanical Behemoths for assistance in combat. The assembled Eighth-Rank Veritas Mechanical Behemoths can maintain combat for 40 minutes. They will disintegrate after the time expires or upon manual deactivation. The materials used can be recovered. Cooldown: 5 years.

After evolving to black quality, the Skybrain System's attributes undoubtedly surged, especially the "Veritas Mechanical Behemoth Catastrophe" feature. As long as he had enough materials, he could summon five Eighth-Rank Veritas Mechanical Behemoths to assist in combat when encountering danger in the future. This was definitely a strong trump card.

Even if he used the Soul-Swallowing Altar on the Skybrain System, when the Skygale of Tianxu Ascension Galactic Ship was fully upgraded, he could directly summon five Ninth-Rank Veritas Mechanical Behemoths. While this was a good idea, it was a long-term goal. The colored ascension fire source was not easy to obtain, so Song Chi quickly dismissed the thought.

In comparison, the Miracle Cloning Chamber and Mirror Image were more cost-effective.

After reviewing the Skybrain system’s unique attributes, Song Chi quickly began to search for other relevant information.

This evolution of the Skybrain system was not just a quality upgrade; it also incorporated the vast majority of the data accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years in the Veritas AI’s database. This was an immense treasure trove.

For several days, Song Chi immersed himself in the Skybrain system’s database, conducting numerous searches. He eventually confirmed that the Skybrain had retained over 90% of the Veritas AI’s data.

The most valuable information was the construction blueprints for ninth-rank mechanical units, including the final 20% of the complete manufacturing process for the Veritas Mechanical War Star.

Additionally, there were the full construction blueprints for seventh-rank production lines.

Song Chi immediately sent these valuable blueprints to the family’s technology department. Upon receiving this treasure trove, the core engineers were almost moved to tears. The value of these blueprints was immense, and if they could fully absorb and utilize them, it would be a game-changer for the Song Family’s entire technology department.

Even without the complete blueprints for the ninth-rank Veritas Mechanical Behemoth, the dark energy power furnace technology alone was incredibly precious. Mastering this technology alone would be enough for the Song Family to leap into the ranks of the leading technological powerhouses. While they might not be able to rival top-tier giants like the Xian Qin Heavy Industries Group, it would certainly provide the Song Family with the foundation to become an immortal giant.

However, this was all in the future. The core members of the Song Family were well aware that, with their five thousand years of technological accumulation and less than two thousand years as an Ascension immortal noble house, even with complete blueprints and corresponding technological processes, it would not be an easy feat to fully understand and implement them.

It was like asking a group of primitives to develop steam engines or internal combustion engines. Even with complete blueprints, it would be like reading an indecipherable text. The gap between their civilizations and technological levels was insurmountable and could not be bridged easily.

There were no shortcuts for this kind of task; it required time to accumulate knowledge and bridge the gap.

Understanding this, Song Chi and other family leaders did not rush. Instead, they issued several new reward policies to the technology department.

The research institute that could solve the technological challenges the fastest would be the first to gain the right to contract with Mist Half-Serpents, and they would also secure the opportunity for their descendants to advance to higher ranks of fire source.

While these rewards were not the most valuable, they were the most appealing to those family members who had not awakened their fire seeds. The Guidance Technique provided by the Mist Half-Serpents could significantly boost their cultivation speed even without the aid of a Spiritual Energy cultivation platform. If the contracted Mist Half-Serpent was of a high enough rank, breaking through to the second and even third ranks of the Guidance Technique was not out of the question.

Second rank: 300 years
Third rank: 600 years

For those who had not awakened their fire seeds, these lifespans were something they had never dared to dream of. Achieving such longevity would allow them to watch their direct descendants grow, which was their greatest desire.

As for the fire seed advancement resources, these were the most coveted resources for the younger generation, as they could greatly enhance the potential and strength of their direct descendants.

With these reward policies in place, the enthusiasm of the various research institutes under the family’s research department was ignited.

Song Chi and the others believed that, under these circumstances, the time required for the Song Family to fully understand and implement the Veritas Mechanica’s technology would be significantly reduced.

They had no other thoughts; they just wanted the Veritas Mechanical War Star, which they had already moved back to the Dragon Spine Continent, to be completed as soon as possible.

A ninth-rank mechanical war star would be a formidable force for the Song Family. The sooner it was completed, the sooner the Song Family would have the confidence to face the great powers.

...

Veritas Mechanica, Ore Planet Continent.

“Hurry up, everyone! Haven’t you heard that a big shot from the Truth Holy City is here? Just mine enough raw ore, and you can trade for all sorts of premium components, including advanced AI chips and various top-tier components made from Veritas alloys, even sixth-rank dark energy power cores. These are extremely rare, and you might not get another chance after this, so no slacking off!”

As a mechanical voice echoed from the mechanical transport ship overhead, the mining ships on the rugged terrain below increased their speed.

The operators of these mining ships were inferior mechanical beings, nearly scrapped, and belonged to a slave owner from a massive junk Floating Continent. They had originally spent their days clearing mechanical waste and scavenging for anything of value.

However, in recent years, the entire Veritas Mechanica had been abuzz with the news that the highest holy city of the Veritas civilization was urgently acquiring various raw ores, Floating Continent spirit objects, and carbon-based slaves, offering in exchange various AI chips, mid-to-high-level AI brains, and power cores, items that were never traded before. This news sparked a mining frenzy across the Veritas Mechanica’s rear star regions, and this once insignificant slave owner was now a significant player.

At this moment, the Ore Planet Continent was teeming with such mechanical beings.

And this was just the Ore Planet Continent. Beyond this eighth-rank resource Floating Continent, more mechanical beings were on their way every moment.

Some piloted one or multiple mechanical transport ships, while others had converted retired mechanical warships into transport vessels. These warships all had one thing in common: their interiors were filled with large quantities of metal ores, including various Floating Continent spirit objects and carbon-based slaves with relatively good genetic potential.

The Veritas Mechanica spans dozens of galaxies, encompassing resources of staggering magnitude.

In the heart of the Ore Planet Continent lies a vast plain.

Here, the largest number of mechanical mining ships and mechanical transport ships from the Floating Continent are gathered.

These mining ships and transport ships cluster tightly around ten towering platforms in the center of the plain.

These ten platforms are the final resource exchange points. At this moment, the figures standing atop these massive platforms are none other than members of the Song Family.

The eyes of the mechanical beings, who are seeing the Song Family members for the first time, glow with urgent red light. No matter how isolated they might be, they can recognize that these Song Family elders are not some grand figures from the Truth Holy City.

However, despite this, all the mechanical beings ultimately chose silence, quietly queuing up for the exchange.

There's no helping it, after all, not far from these ten platforms stands a terrifying being radiating the overwhelming aura of an Eighth-Rank Peak entity.

Under the Asura Emperor's intimidation, the Song Family's plan has been smoother than ever.

It has been five years since the Song Family first rallied billions of Flame-Ember citizens to the Truth Floating Land to mine various resources.

However, Song Wujian and others had long realized a critical point: while billions of Flame-Ember humans sound formidable, they can only just manage the short-term mining of the Truth Floating Land.

After all, it's a Ninth-Rank Floating Continent with a diameter exceeding a million light-years. To comprehensively exploit it without restraint in a short time requires an immense amount of human and material resources.

In this situation, the Song Family naturally faced a manpower shortage. After all, the territory controlled by the Veritas Mechanical Behemoth extends far beyond a single Truth Floating Land. Before the Stellar Giant Ape Civilization completely swept through, how could they afford to ignore such vast star domains?

Thus, after much deliberation, they came up with the current plan.

As Song Shiyuan, the proposer of the plan, put it, in terms of numbers, who could surpass the trillions of mechanical beings under the Veritas Mechanica?

To mobilize these mechanical beings and have them transport resources from dozens of galaxies, the Song Family proactively offered items that were mere trifles to them—such as large quantities of mechanical brains, smart chips, and dark energy power cores—collected from the secret vaults of various mechanical cities on the Truth Floating Land.

Over the years, their decision has proven to be correct.

With the active transportation by countless mechanical beings, the Song Family's resource collection speed has increased by hundreds, even thousands of times. This is just one of the exchange points; the Song Family has established over a hundred such points across the Ore Planet Continent.

Additionally, they connected to another Eighth-Rank Floating Continent on the other side of the Veritas Mechanica using a spatial wormhole generator, setting up multiple exchange points there as well.

"556 pieces of Millennium Volcanic Lava Iron, 6,500 tons of obsidian ore, and 14,000 tons of volcanic copper. In total, this can be exchanged for one advanced brain, six intermediate brains, and one sixth-rank dark energy power core. Would you like to exchange directly?"

On one of the platforms, Song Xingchen asked softly.

Hearing this, the Second-Rank mechanical being in front of him replied quickly.

"Direct exchange!"

Within tens of seconds, the transaction was completed, and the Second-Rank mechanical being immediately boarded an old mining ship and sped away.

Judging by its appearance, it was clearly very satisfied with the transaction. What it didn't know, however, was that a glint of intelligence flashed in the eyes of Song Xingchen, the newly appointed Fourth-Rank Song Family elder, as he oversaw the transaction.

Millennium Volcanic Lava Iron is one of the several special resources needed for the Escort Ships in the Flame-Ember Starship Ascension system to upgrade to Cruisers.

For just a few useless brains and one sixth-rank energy core, they received 556 pieces of Millennium Volcanic Lava Iron, along with a large amount of other resources. This transaction was a massive win.

However, this was not enough. After a brief moment of excitement, Song Xingchen subtly moved his lips, making it look entirely normal, and the subsequent mechanical beings did not notice.

Behind him, the Song Family's Shadow Department members, upon receiving his message, quickly and quietly dispatched several Cruisers to follow the mining ship that had just left.

Millennium Volcanic Lava Iron is a rather rare resource. The fact that the other party could produce so much at once suggests a stable production environment. If they could locate this area, the Song Family could ensure a steady supply of Millennium Volcanic Lava Iron, which would be a significant achievement.

This wasn't just the case for Song Xingchen. Over the years, the Song Family encountered multiple such situations while acquiring various resources, including a large titanium crystal vein with a yield of ten million pieces. Although it didn't produce ore vein cores, its value was still staggering.

As for the risk of exposure, they could only stay in this star domain for a few more years. Who would care about that?

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end